Survey of 800 Ohio Registered Voters Shows Support for Routine Vaccinations

We recently commissioned the Bowling Green State University Democracy and Public Policy Research Network to develop questions to gauge public opinion on childhood immunizations for inclusion in their October 2025 BGSU Poll. The survey revealed that 86 percent of respondents believe routine vaccines are safe or very safe for children.

The poll included 14 questions designed to provide insight into what Ohioans think about childhood vaccine requirements, the benefits and dangers of vaccines, vaccine safety, who they trust for information about vaccines, and more. Key findings include:

• 75 percent of Ohioans believe that parents should be required to have their children vaccinated against preventable diseases.
• 89 percent indicated they were very confident or fairly confident that their pediatrician/family physician provides them with the information they need to make informed decisions about vaccines.
• Of those who believed parents should be required to have their children vaccinated, 88 percent said a major reason they support routine childhood vaccine requirements is because they think routine childhood vaccines are effective in protecting most children and 78 percent said a major reason is because they believe childhood vaccines have been proven safe because they have been around for a decades.
• Of those who believed parents should be required to have their children vaccinated, 85 percent said a major reason they support routine childhood vaccine requirements is because they think diseases like measles will come back if routine childhood vaccines are no longer required.
• 83 percent indicate they do not trust at all or only slightly trust their social media feeds as a reliable source of vaccine information.
• 43 percent of respondents felt confident or very confident in the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine; whereas 83 percent felt confident or very confident in the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, and 85 percent in the polio vaccine.
• 88% of Ohioans think that health insurers, including Medicaid & Medicare, should be required to pay for vaccines that individuals choose for themselves or family members.

“We are pleased to have a current look into the attitudes and perceptions of Ohioans towards immunizations,” said Melissa Wervey Gittelman, Chief Executive Officer, Ohio AAP. “While there is work to be done to build understanding and trust around the importance and safety of routine vaccines, most Ohioans believe in vaccine requirements and trust their pediatrician or family physician to help guide them through the decision-making process. This information will help inform our ongoing efforts to educate and advocate for routine childhood vaccines.”

On January 20, 2026, Ohio AAP presented this data with a panel of Ohio AAP experts to 20 members of the press across Ohio via webinar.  During this roundtable our experts shared data, perspectives and responded directly to questions from the press pool. Over the past 24 hours, stories are running in Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo markets to share this information with Ohioans.

News coverage has included:

• The Columbus Dispactch: Vast majority of Ohioans want their kids vaccinated, new data shows
• The Blade: Ohioans support required childhood vaccinations, poll says
• Cleveland 19 News: New poll asks Ohioans how the feel about childhood vaccinations

The BGSU Poll partners with the national polling firm YouGov to obtain representative samples for each survey based upon relevant demographic data. The poll of 800 statewide voters was conducted from October 2 to October 14 and has a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percentage points. The sample’s weighting reflects a +10 margin for Trump in the 2024 presidential race.